KKS 53

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Text

渚の院にて桜を見てよめる

Read on seeing cherry blossoms at the Nagisa Residence.

在原業平朝臣

Lord Ariwara no Narihira

世の中にたえて桜のなかりせば春の心はのどけからまし

yo no naka ni taete sakura no nakari-se-ba haru no kokoro wa nodokekara-mashi

In this world If cherry blossoms did not Exist at all The hearts of spring season Would be tranquility.

Notes

Nagisa Residence

Near modern-day Osaka's Nagisahon-machi, on the Yodo river. According to the Tales of Ise this was a residence of Prince Koretaka. The Tosa Diary also indicates that Koretaka and Narihira were together for this poem. KKS 418 and KKS 884 mention Narihira in attendance on Koretaka so there is no major reason to doubt that applies here as well.

Did not exist at all

Quite a few manuscripts of the KKS, as well as some versions of the poem in alternate sources, reads saka-zara-ba "did not bloom at all." Because this is it the version of the poem in Ki no Tsuyaruki's Tosa Diary, some scholars have suggested this is a better reading (on aesthetic grounds as well). But Katagiri notes that Tsurayuki's Shinsen waka reads "exist" instead of "bloom," so it's difficult to say on the current evidence which reading is the original one.

The hearts of spring season

The expression haru no kokoro may refer to the feelings of people towards (or in) spring, the nature of spring itself, or some combination of both.

Other sources:

• Shinsen waka | Kokin waka rokujō | Wakan rōeishū
• Kuhin waka | Kingyokushū | Sanjū rokunin sen | Korai fūteishō

Analysis

Broadly speaking this poem has two lines of interpretation -- one that focuses on the poem itself, and another that interprets it in the Tales of Ise context.

For the poem itself, it is similar to KKS 49 in imagining a world where the blossoms do not scatter. This poem goes further though: not only should they not scatter, they should not exist (or "bloom" in the alternate reading) at all. This encompasses not only the sorrow of their scattering, but also the impatience in waiting for them to bloom, and the haste and hurry to go see them before they scatter. Keichū connected this to the Kana Preface's judgment of Narihira's poetry as having "overflowing heart, but insufficient words," and noted that the feigned "hate" extends not just to the blossoms but to the wind and rain that would scatter them.

Rather than the feigned "hate", the Shintaikei and Miura(1943) see an expression of love for the flowers: since this world without cherries cannot be, let's just enjoy them while we can.

The other line of interpretation involves Prince Koretaka. The Tosa Diary says that this poem was composed when Narihira was "in attendance on Prince Koretaka," and section 82 of the Tales of Ise puts this poem in a larger context involving a trip to the Nagisa Villa. Neither of these sources indicate any explicit secondary meaning for the poem. However, Koretaka was displaced in the line of succession by his younger brother Korehito. Korehito was the grandson of Fujiwara no Yoshifusa, and the overwhelming political power of Yoshifusa resulted in this appointment. Because of this background, and the placement of this poem immediately after KKS 52 (in which Yoshifusa praises his daughter's position as Empress and the glory of his family), many commenters have read a political meaning into this poem.

Jikidenkai and Kaneko(1927) see a metaphor with the cherries for Koretaka: since the Fujiwara eclipse him so much, it would be better if he had not been born at all. Later scholars are lukewarm about this idea, and Katagiri rejects it entirely: he believes that the entire idea that Koretaka and Korehito were feuding is a later legend. Kubota(1937) also thinks the poem would be in the miscellaneous volume if this were its purpose.

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